


The Mighty Nein Guide to Surviving Lockdown

by PossiblyNobody



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Caleb Widogast Deserves Nice Things, Caleb Widogast Needs a Hug, Clayleb Week (Critical Role), Cozy, Fluff, M/M, Mighty Nein as Family, Pre-Relationship, Team as Family, Xhorhaus, You can pry alive!Mollymauk from my cold dead hands, and he gets them, lockdown - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:48:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25822378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PossiblyNobody/pseuds/PossiblyNobody
Summary: The Mighty Nein as strewn across the world when lockdown hits, but they're trying their hardest to stay sane through keeping in contact and trying new hobbies.Featuring: Tarot readings, Fjord telling stories, Jester getting the Nein to paint dicks, Pining!Caleb and much more.
Relationships: Caduceus Clay/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 4
Kudos: 68





	The Mighty Nein Guide to Surviving Lockdown

It had never been so quiet in the Xhorhaus as it was during lockdown. 

Coronavirus had swept the country at exactly the wrong time for the Mighty Nein (as they liked to call themselves) to stay together. Half of the Nein were stranded at various houses since the quarantine was put into effect over Spring break at their College. 

Fjord and Beau had been visiting the Lavish Chateau with Jester to keep her company while her mother worked (plus Beau wanted to make use of the complimentary fancy gym in the Chateau’s spa). They had been too far away to make it back by the time the lockdown was even mentioned so they had decided to batten down the hatches and weather the isolation storm in a Nicodranis mansion as opposed to trying to catch a flight back to their college town. 

Yasha was on a retreat that was set to last all of the spring break, with no access to phones or internet, so there was a good chance she didn’t even know about the pandemic while she went through a silent retreat in a little village deep within the mountains.

Molly caught the worst of it - being in Europe travelling around on their ‘pilgrimage’ of magical sites (it was supposed to help add character and intensity to their fortune-telling, or so they said - most of the Nein agreed that he probably just wanted an excuse to explore some old cities). They got caught up in Romania when the borders closed, but had been saved by an old circus friend, Gustav, who had a friend with an empty apartment in a city near to where he had been exploring, setting him up for the duration until the flights reopened back to Xhorhas. 

In true Molly fashion, they had managed to charm their way into the hearts of the local breadmakers and so had a constant supply of food even if he didn’t know the language (yet - the Nein had been informed that this was their new quarantine activity). 

The only people left in the Xhorhaus were those who never left in the first place - Nott, Caleb, Caduceus, and of course Frumpkin. 

And Caleb was going insane. 

The first week had be heaven - the Xhorhaus was FINALLY blessedly quiet, and he could catch up on his reading and Dunamancy practise. 

He spent about a week in his ‘research cave’, as Nott called it, pouring over the books he had the foresight to take out from the College library before the lockdown was initiated and the College shut down for the remainder of the term. 

Nott had taken a similar route and had spent most of the first week in her ‘cave’, but in her case it was more just sleeping and catching up on all the Netflix she had missed while doing labwork with her partner. 

Caleb secretly thought that the increase in sleeping might also be a cover for her wanting to FaceTime her new boyfriend Yeza as much as she could without prying eyes. 

Caduceus had taken it, like most things, in his stride. 

He took the new increase in time to devote himself to the garden in the Xhorhaus (it was bigger than usual student houses since it was technically one of Marion’s properties that she had leased at a LARGE discount to her daughter and her friends, as she was secretly thrilled at the group her daughter had found herself with). Cad had taken time to plant vegetables and trees that they could sustain themselves on if shopping became harder — a little plot of land quickly became ripe with zucchinis, carrots, and scallions. 

He had also taken to bringing Nott and Caleb endless cups of warm teas, if only to ruffle a hand through Nott’s hair (‘I’ll kill you!’), or to give Caleb’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze which the smaller man would barely respond to. 

In the first week it felt more like one of their college Reading Week’s than anything else, nothing they hadn’t handled before. 

————————————————————————————————————————-

Week Two was the cooking boom in the house. Cad took it on himself to make sure that Caleb and Nott’s introvert seclusion caves were well stocked with food, dragging them out at dinner times to make sure they saw real people at designated times in the day, and actually ate at least one healthy meal a day. They whined but were grateful a for the enforced normality and schedule that had been lacking over the previous week. 

With the Week Two cooking came the Week Two Baking Incident. Nott decided that baking and chemistry were similar enough that she should be able to have a handle on it.

Spoiler alert: their house smelled of rancid cookies for three days before Cad was able to find the right blend of herbs to neutralise the scent of cookies that Nott had accidentally made with salt instead of sugar. 

Luckily for the remaining members of the Xhorhaus, Caduceus decided to bake multiple breads, mostly Sourdough and Banana, to counteract the Disaster Cookies even further.

Caleb, feeling partially responsible for the Baking Incident, having encouraged Nott’s baking despite knowing full well how little she checks ingredients (being witness to more than one explosion in the lab), helped Cad with the breads - listening to him hum lightly as he stirred and passing his tall friend the ingredients. 

Okay, so he didn’t ‘help’ so much as ‘keep him company’, but it made the firbolg smile all the same. 

Week Three saw the whole of the Mighty Nein (that had access to Zoom at least), take part in group yoga sessions every evening (or morning, for Mollymauk, who’s time difference in Romania put him a day ahead). Thanks to the combined efforts of Molly and Caduceus, they managed to cover a whole range of yoga, including a day of guided meditation that made Jester fall asleep onscreen. 

Yoga was something that ended up sticking for the remaining members of the Xhorhaus after the rest of the Nein decided they couldn’t commit to a daily practise. 

Caduceus, ever the patient teacher, would take Nott and Caleb out to their garden in the evenings while a dinner was warming gently, to bask in the setting sun and lead them through a gentle practise. 

The human and goblin girl weren’t the most flexible of the Mighty Nein, but there was something to be said for Caduceus’ relaxing voice taking them slowly through various positions while the smell of whatever they had coming for dinner wafting towards them under the multicoloured sky. 

The Nein, clearly missing one another, had started to try and keep in constant contact where possible - organising group quizzes, Netflix Parties, and charades over FaceTime and Zoom in little groups or as a whole. 

It was the week where it all started to settle in, and the Nein’s anxieties about seeing each other again any time soon started to rise. 

They binged their way through Nailed It together, making pointed comments at Nott (‘at least yours looks better than that Nott, I think that technically though she probably had less time than you to cook it all’).

There were only so many Zoom calls asking about people’s days that could be done before the answers started to sound repetitive, even Molly, who always had new stories up their sleeve,s tarted to look a little run down and antsy at the lack of things to do and new people to meet, being trapped inside as much as the rest of them, even though the small own he was in had slightly different lockdown laws. 

———————————————————————————————————————

Weeks Four and Five was something that Beau-dubbed ‘We Gon’ Learn, Bitch’ weeks. They all took turns sharing knowledge to keep from getting bored, and to have something to talk about (there was only so many times you could ask ‘so what have you done today’ or ‘how are you’ before you realised that the answer would always be the same). 

Beau did workout ‘classes’ and invited in their other friends to join those Zoom sessions, mostly so that she could see SOMEONE doing it correctly, so Nila and Keg joined the Boxercise and Self Defence classes. 

Darion joined one class before Beau booted her for criticisng her technique (‘I’M teaching this class, not you!’, ‘then stop raising your right shoulder so much’). 

It should be noted, though, that Beau and Dairon still had daily workout classes together on a one-on-one basis outside of this, where the student/teacher dynamic was righted, and it’s unlikely that they took too much offence from being removed from the group. 

The self defence classes were more fun than boxercise for most of them, since more than one of them had a violent streak or a wish to protect themselves (‘Beau, if I go for their kneecaps I can take them down AND protect Caleb’, ‘Uh, good instinct Nott, but their balls are a lot more sensitive, and at your height they’re probably an easier target’, ‘….Beau I don’t think teachin’ Nott to go for the balls is a mighty fine idea’, ‘But it is a mighty NEIN IDEA FEEYORD’). 

The class ended with Fjord making a mental note never to annoy Nott, for fear of her unleashing her new skills on his… nether regions. 

Caduceus took the next turn, and, along a similarly relaxing vein, did an in-depth mix between an elongated yoga session and a meditation session. 

Everyone made their set-ups as yoga-esque as possible, with candles and incense lit across all of their various homes/apartments.

In the Xhorhaus, cinnamon and vanilla wafted in curling smoke patterns through the living room, which had been repurposed for the session, with couches and cushions piled to the side to allow for movement. 

His deep voice soothed them as they made their way through different positions, and he made sure to tailor it out to people wherever possible to keep it to their various skill levels (‘Beau if you’d like to now to the Crow pose, and Fjord if you could stay in Extended Child’s Pose while she does, that’s great, that’s really great’). 

Using it as an opportunity to unwind rather than overexert their bodies, even Mollymauk refrained from showing off (TOO much), and simply flowed through the various positions that he called out. 

The ache in Caleb’s shoulders began to loosen the more he let Caduceus’ voice float over him and allowed the positions to take effect. 

During the guided meditation session, Caducues’ voice coiled out like the smoke from the incense burners and Caleb couldn’t remember another time when he felt so relaxed, sinking deeper and deeper into his own body. 

At the end of the session, once Caleb fluttered his eyes open, he saw the gentle smile on the face of his firbolg friend as he looked down on his from his cross-legged position in front of the laptop where he was signing off and saying goodbye to all their friends, having coaxed them back into self-aware consciousness. 

He found himself smiling back helplessly before looking back down to wake up his legs having been in one position for so long. 

Nott was to the side of him, having turned the meditation session into a well-needed nap, and he roused her gently before leading her to her room. 

Coming back into the living room, Caleb quietly began lending a hand in slowly putting the living room to rights, though he wasn’t as deceptively strong as his large friend. 

After a while of pushing the sofa and it not budging, a lightly furred hand rested on his bicep and said ‘allow me, Mr. Caleb’, before moving the sofa in a smooth gesture that would have been showing off on any other person. 

Flushed a little from the exertion and from seeing a rare show of strength from his friend, he bent over to pick up the various pillows (those, at least, were light enough for him) and fussing over them. 

Softly, Caleb told him ‘thank you, for this, I think that it is something we all needed and didn’t want to ask for’.

Caduceus, tilting his head a little to look down, replied ‘well I’m always glad to give people what they need, but asking is the easiest way of receiving don’t you think?’ and peered at him, a little impassively, before cocking his head to the side and continuing on ‘some tea before bed?’

And there they sat, for another hour sipping tea that had a vaguely peaty undertone from the mushrooms, talking low as to not disturb Nott, and Caleb helplessly fond of his tall friend, whose pink hair had been wrapped in a bun for the yoga and from which tendrils had escaped throughout the course of the evening, which Caleb wanted to touch so badly. 

But that was for people who were better at emotional availability than he, so he contented himself to watch his friend through half-lidded eyes, before they both decided it was probably time to head to their (separate) beds. 

A few days later it was Jesters’ turn, and she had send supplies through to all of their various houses in preparation for her lesson. 

Jester organised a drawing class - first attempting to get Fjord to pose for a nude life class (‘technically we can put a banana over you so that you don’t have to show EVERYTHING technically, or I don’t know, an eggplant but I think you would look very handsome as a life model okay and I think it would be great for your self confidence like my momma always says but what do you think do you think that you’re READY to show us your body Fjord?’), which he escaped by insisting that he wanted to learn too. 

After minor pouting, Jester sorted out a very anatomical looking fruit bowl (including mushrooms) for them all to practise with, and was a surprisingly patient teacher when it came to shading, with minimal (maximum) dick jokes to go alongside it. 

Caleb’s fruit bowl was passable, with an extremely red face to accompany it when showing it to everyone else, and Nott just drew crude penises all over the page, which Jester gave her an A+ for. 

Molly drew their own dick in lieu of the fruit bowl, which delighted Jester and horrified everyone else (‘it’s so…lifelike’, ‘does it really have that piercing?’, ‘dude, gross’), and Fjord tried to de-dick all the fruits and draw them in cartoon form instead. 

Beau drew one (1) peach, gave up, and started doodling instead. 

Caduceus’ was the only one that fully resembled the bowl of fruit/vegetables, saying that it was a good way of paying homage to the Wildmother, by respecting how she helped these food products reach their full potential (no one could tell whether he was joking or not). He later placed the drawing in an offering bowl with some incense and watched the smoke do happy wiggles while burning the paper. 

Next up on the learning tree was Nott who, coupled with Beau, did a wine and whiskey tasting. 

Strangely it was easier than ever for them all to obtain the raw materials - Jester’s mom kept the mansion so well stocked that they didn’t even need to go shopping, Molly was in Romania with a vastly lowered drinking age, and Caduceus was old enough to buy the necessary alcohol for the remaining members of the Xhorhaus, and was content to do it in the name of education. 

Beau took over the wine part, and treated it with the utmost seriousness, before getting a little too drunk and starting to wax poetic about grapes. 

Nott went the complete other direction, starting her tasting on the first whiskey with the words ‘is anyone else getting a subtle hint of ethanol in this one?’ and ‘mmm, yes, that’s definitely whiskey’.

This was maybe because she went directly after Beau’s wine talk, and had enthusiastically been downing glasses before realising she needed to take care of her portion of learning too. 

It was a fun night all the same, and the hangover the next day was deemed ‘worth it’ by everyone apart from Jester (who stuck to milk the entire time and played nursemaid to Beau and Fjord while they Suffered). 

After a full day of recovery it was Fjords’ turn. 

Deciding to take things down a notch, he opted to do a ‘bedtime story’ for everyone on Zoom, complete with voices to match. 

Jester tried to insist on Tusk Love, which she almost got away with since he didn’t know what it was, but after half a chapter and almost half the Zoom chat trying to stifle their giggles, he soon caught on to her scheme and switched to something a little more family friendly. Family friendly translated to a book in a series he was reading about a group of adventurers, written by his new favourite author (Scanlan Shorthalt). 

And that’s how one evening was spent - not with learning anything, but with the six of them listening to Fjord gently read them to sleep. Jester and Beau were in Jesters’ room on Zoom (‘to keep it FAIR, Fjord’), and were spooning, Molly was wrapped up to his head, sitting cross legged, in a massive, purple, intricately embroidered quilt he found at his host’s flat, that they were already planning on how to accidentally acquire upon leaving.

And in the Xhorhaus, Nott was curled up against Caleb, head in his lap with a blanket dwarfing her, snoring lightly. Caleb was sat up with a hand in her hair and a mug of spiced ginger tea, leaning against Caduceus, who also had a mug, handmade, of a tea blend that he had also made a few days earlier. 

Halfway through the story, Caduceus had stretched his left arm across the back of the sofa to avoid it turning numb, (Caleb could hear Jester’s voice in his head, saying how ‘technically’ it meant they were cuddling now) which made him blush lightly but also lean into his friend a little more. 

A warm hand absent-mindedly began stroking incomprehensible patterns into his shoulder soon after, which only lulled him further into relaxation. 

Though Caleb wasn’t the biggest fan of physical touch at the start of his friendship with the Nein, he now took great comfort in the warmth of his little friend on his lap, and the grounding presence of the firbolg on his side - surrounded by warmth and letting Fjord’s words drift over him, talking of a group of adventurers long ago, fighting chromatic dragons in a soft lilt, Caleb didn’t find the lockdown so bad that evening.

————————————————————————————————————

Countering that relaxed evening was Mollymauk’s turn. 

With none of their usual implements to hand, they instead chose to do one on one tarot readings ‘for free, just this once darlings’ in the privacy of a FaceTime, with the stipulation that no one could listen in to each others’ readings, to keep it fair. 

Without any of their usual tricks to ‘set the mood’, Molly had to make do with instructing each person to make their own ‘aesthetic’ backdrop, to light a candle, and to sit in the dark for the reading. 

Which they all immediately set out to do - even Beau, who didn’t really believe in the ‘bullshit power of the cards or whatever’, liked to have an activity for the afternoon to keep busy with. 

The rest of the Nein stayed on a Zoom chat with one another to hold each other accountable (on Mollymauk’s insistence, to make sure no one was cheating and listening in) which the tarot readings happened, showing off their various aesthetic backgrounds before they met with Molly and turned the lights out. 

Mollymauk showed them all his backdrop, which featured the large purple quilt that had embroidered stars on it quite prominently, and somehow had transformed the flat he was in to look cosy - complete with dramatic candelabras and silks. 

Fjord had shown everyone how he had decorated one of Mairon’s bathrooms to be cosy - throwing blankets and duvets into a claw-foot bathtub and surrounded by plants and an aquarium. 

He was also the one to volunteer to go first, leaving the Nein with very little time to mock him for his set up. 

While he was gone, the Nein had to spend half the time convincing Jester not to listen in, and the other half speculating whether Mollymauk would try to base their readings on however they’d decorated. The also discussed how none of them had managed to get a reading off Molly in the whole time they had known them, which was only just then registering as strange. 

When Fjord rejoined the Zoom call he looked, for want of a better word, RATTLED. 

Choosing not to question it, Nott went next - her bedroom background had been turned into a mini shrine, with all her… ‘liberated’ shiny objects in full view of the camera, glinting slightly as they reflected the 28 tealights (‘I think that might be a fire hazard mein little friend’) she had lit for the occasion. 

Jester was easier to contain this time around as she spent most of Nott’s turn prodding Fjord about what Mollymauk had told him - he just shook his head and looked deep in thought - before snagging a mug full of whiskey off the floor (leftover from Beau and Nott’s tasting night), and taking a healthy gulp - ‘Molly’s not kidding around with this stuff’. 

Seemingly appeased, Jester bounced around her bedroom, making everyone PROMISE that she could go next (Beau and Caleb shared a look through the screen, neither of them even wanted a go in the first place). 

While waiting, Caduceus made spiced hot chocolate for people in the Xhorhaus while none of them were in readings - the hot drink had cinnamon and paprika in it, making it both soothingly warm and also having a hint of spice. 

Under Beau’s watchful eye, Caleb accepted his mug with burning cheeks. 

When Jester returned, she was barely subdued, if anything she was more excitable than ever. 

She immediately started babbling about how ‘it was just SO romantic you guys, you HAVE to let him read your relationships because I think you would REALLY enjoy it, especially you Deucy’, which made Caduceus the next logical (willing?) victim to the fortune telling. 

His backdrop was his bedroom, which strangely none of them had been in before, covered in plants, pillows, and an incense cone burning lightly next to him in lieu of a candle. 

He gave a contented acquiesce, sipped his hot chocolate, and left the group call. 

Which Jester took as her cue to promptly tell them everything that Mollymauk had told her, some of which sounded a little exaggerated, but knowing both Jester and Molly, it’s hard to know which one of them did the original exaggeration. 

Caduceus came back pretty quickly, looking thoughtful and at the screen though it was difficult to see who he was looking at given the nature of Zoom, which frustrated Caleb to no end. 

When Caduceus came back, Beau and Caleb played rock paper scissors in order to see who had to go next, Beau lost. 

Swearing lightly, Beau adjusted her surroundings - she had gone to the gym, and the extent of making it atmospheric led to her turning off the lights and finding a yoga mat to roll out in front of a punching bag that she leaned against, using a foam roller as a foot rest, and she, too, dropped out the group call. 

Jester prodded Caduceus for information but it seemed half hearted, she kept looking towards her door as though she wanted to go check on Beau (‘remember, you promised not to spy Jessie’, ‘it is really spying technically if it’s just seeing if she’s okay? That just seems stupid’).

Not rising to the bait, he just let the questions wash over him, whilst Caleb pretended not to notice. 

Finally, Beau was back, looking flushed and disgruntled. 

Meaning it was Caleb’s turn. 

Looking around at his pillow fort held together by sheets and blankets and decorated with some of his favourite books, with fairy lights instead of candles to avoid the fire hazard, he took a breath, and joined the link that Molly had put into the group. 

Molly’s background, looking a lot more dramatic now that he was filling the screen, was empty for a few seconds, before they dropped back into view. 

‘Oh sorry love, I thought you’d take longer mentally preparing so I made myself a coffee’.

Caleb reddened a little at how well his friend knew him and shook his head. 

Molly continued on unperturbed ‘well now that I have you here, what would you like to know - life, love, career, family ex cetera?’

Wanting to not even think about the family option, Caleb latched onto the first safe topic he heard, quietly blurting out ‘love…’ (shiße) ‘uh, ja, love would be good to know for the future’?

The tiefling’s face turned into a grin. 

That was never a good sign. 

‘Wonderful, just wonderful - so how this is going to work is I’m going to shuffle these cards thoroughly, and you’re going to hold the question into your mind, I’m then going to start working my way through them, laying them down, and you’re going to tell me when to stop when it feels right to you, nice and easy, almost entirely harmless’, they said, with an air that this was definitely not the first time they had given that exact speech this evening. 

Nodding, he questioned ‘do I think about, then, the person who I…’ he trailed off, realising his mistake. 

Their grin sharpened.

‘Oh absolutely you should, let me just shuffle these quickly for you, I can tell that this will be a good idea, or a bad one. But in either case it will be interesting and that’s what we’re aiming for, isn’t it?’

Watching the clawed fingers shuffle through the cards at a blinding pace, Caleb gave an absent nod, already thinking about soft hands and warmth. 

Realising that they wouldn’t be getting much in the way of speech out of Caleb, they just said ‘tell me when to stop’ and starting moving through the deck. 

Something tugged at the back of his brain when Mollymauk was three quarters of the way through the deck and he found himself saying ‘halt bitte’, before he could stop himself. 

Molly froze mid-movement, holding a card, and asked ‘are you sure’, prompting him to nod, just wanting the card game to be over with. 

Turning it over so that only they could see it first, their smile grew into something wide and genuine, and they turned it over to the camera saying, not unkindly: ‘do you even need me to explain this one to you, or is this a big enough kick up the arse to set you in motion already?’

The Lovers card. 

Caleb left the Zoom meeting without saying anything, face burning and with the sound of Mollymauk’s tinkling laughter in his ears. 

It’s one thing everyone knowing about his hopeless crush on his tall housemate, it’s another altogether to be mocked about it like that. 

Instead of rejoining on his own laptop, he entered Nott’s room and joined her, barely visible on the camera, and silently holding out his hot chocolate to be spiked by her flask. 

Like a very good friend, she obliged, but like the maternal figure he knew she saw herself as, she only poured in a little. 

Mollymauk, having rejoined the main group, smirked knowingly, but otherwise didn’t say anything when Caleb avoided everyone’s eyes and questions, just saying a little defensively:s ‘we said we’d all avoid each other because of the readings ja? Well the readings are done so I can sit with my little friend now’.

Nott preened a little. 

Caduceus peered down at his screen and said, ever the wisest: ‘oh, that’s wonderful, we’re all finished with the future now, we can stay in the present’. 

Nott invited herself and Caleb into Caduceus’ room (‘so we can see at least SOME of us in person, plus yours is the cosiest’), and Fjord and Beau piled into Jester’s - everyone except Jester refused to give details about their readings, but deferred to Mollymauk more than usual.

Molly shifted a little, watching the two larger groups huddle together, looking like they wanted to reach through the screen and join them. 

After 20 minutes, they stretched and said ‘it’s just about time for me to go and visit the darling young man in the bread shop down the street so I’ll love you and leave you my dears’, and abruptly left the call. 

The rest of the call devolved into sleepy piles on either end of the call, with only Jester and Nott’s profiles on, making the pictures bigger on each. 

In a repeat of Fjord’s storytime, Caduceus had his arm stretched out and wrapped around Caleb and Nott on a floor cushion and Caleb, remembering the Lovers card, slowly sunk into his friend, leaning his head on his chest. 

Meanwhile it looked as though Jester was in the middle of a spooning session with Beau and Fjord, with Fjord being the littlest spoon, and Beau being the biggest. 

They all stayed like that until they fell asleep, though at some point in the night, Nott looked down at her sleeping boys, quietly extracted herself with precision, and threw a blanket over them on her way out, padding her way across various rugs to return to her room and have a very late night catch up with Yeza. 

————————————————————————————————————————

Finally, it was Caleb’s turn.

Having been cheated out of his first idea, wanting to just read to people, he started thinking more about what he could offer and what people needed right now. 

He had an idea, but locked himself in his room for 5 hours before emerging so that he could put it into play. 

He secreted himself out of the Xhorhaus and to a nearby postbox, where he deposited 4 carefully wrapped and stamped packages and hoped that his timing would work. 

Three days later he switched on his Zoom chat (where Jester was hosting with her mom’s account so that they could have unlimited time). 

Everyone had promised not to open their packages (‘on pain of… well not death friends, maybe disappointment’, ‘of DEATH’, ‘… uh, ja, thank you Nott, of death then’) until after they were all on a call together and they had finally found a time that worked for everyone. 

Everyone gave him a bemused look holding up familiarly shaped packages - books. 

Needing to defend himself he said ‘well, I thought you might like to have a book club, we always talk to one another on these calls, but having something to concentrate on without talking might also be…. nice’ he trailed off, taking stock of his friends faces to see their reactions. 

Jester had immediately started ripping open her package with excited squeals. 

Beau had given Caleb a little thumbs up, before doing the same, with Fjord smiling and following suit. Molly already had theirs open, having completely disregarded the pleas from Caleb not to open it until today, and there was a little bookmark peeking out the top, which Caleb took as a good sign. 

Nott and Caduceus were both in the living room with him, with Nott tearing her package to pieces, and Caduceus carefully unfolding his, as though he wanted to keep the paper for some later, special event. 

He had chosen each one so carefully - using the limited funds he had saved from not going outdoors and secondhand shops to make sure everyone’s book was related to them in some way. 

Jester had an book written about one of the forerunners of renaissance art… who just so happened to popularise the naked image and who had a run in with the church for creating a sculpture of Lucifer that was deemed too sexy for religion. But there were also a lot of art references within the book that she could use for drawing figures. 

Fjord had a nautical fantasy novel, about a group who travelled around and sailed in a found family format, both something that he could relate to but also it was the beginning of a series, and Caleb knew that Fjord had been looking for something to really sink his tusks into. 

Nott knew about hers already, being that she helped Caleb with choosing half of them, and she had chosen her own, which was a biography on Houdini, which she was already hugging possessively, whilst chattering on Zoom, showing it off, happy to prove yet again at how thoughtful her boy was. 

Molly had a book about a magical heist, full of fantasy elements and also queer characters, which Caleb thought they might enjoy - and seeing that Mollymauk was thoughtfully stroking the gilded hardcover and nodding along to Jester’s talking, he hoped that he was correct in it. 

Beau had a historical book on Asian monks from centuries ago. As much as she liked to pretend that she didn’t like non-fiction books, and how boring they were, Caleb had seen enough of his collection go missing for a day or two, before being carefully returned, to know better. These monks had developed a fighting style that ended up being a popularised martial art that wove its way into Beau’s MMA practises, so at least this book was relevant to her.

And Caduceus… Caleb hadn’t known what to get Caduceus at first, since it was pretty well known that his firbolg friend had pretty severe dyslexia. He had landed on a botanical book, talking about the properties of plants and how they could be converted into edible or drinkable versions - Caleb had gotten Nott to sneak into Caduceus’ room a few days earlier to make sure that he didn’t already have it. 

Alongside this book, in a little note on the inside, Caleb had written that he had another book for Caduceus, after the Zoom call had finished. 

He saw the taller man look at the note, puzzle through reading it (Caleb had tried to make his writing as clear as possible, but it was still scratchy at best), before turning to Caleb with a puzzled little smile and a nod. 

They spent the rest of the two hours they had put aside for the call quietly reading… well, mostly quiet, with people’s input every now and again pointing out parts of their book that they liked; and a lo-fi playlist in the background that they had all synced up to play at the same time. 

With the quiet breathing, pages flipping, and matching music, it almost felt like they were all together again, even though that was pretty impossible. 

Caleb had a little smile on his face, surveying his friends, whilst he pretended to read through the book in his hands that he had read 4 times already (Tusk Love, just for Jester’s amusement). 

Two hours later, Mollymauk started stretching, it being a different time for them than for the rest of them, needed to start their day, bidding them adieu with a casual ‘I’ll love you and leave you darlings’, with their makeup off and hair falling softly into their face, they looked a few years younger when sleepy and not putting up the sharp front they usually did, which would no doubt be restored once they’d had a coffee. 

Pretty quickly after that they all made their goodbyes, citing different reasons, but promising to make it a tradition at least until everyone had finished their books. 

Nott, having helped Caleb with the second part of the evening, gave a toothy grin, thumbs up, and scampered into her room after telling them that she was off to FaceTime Yeza. 

The lo-fi playlist still gently playing, Caduceus started tidying the cushions that had gone everywhere as Nott had continuously shifted throughout reading, frowning as he noticed that there were a lot of them missing, throwing a curious look to Caleb, who shuffled his feet and finally looked up. 

‘Ah, ja, that’s something to do with the other book I have for you - could you come with me bitte?’

Unfolding himself from where he had leant over to straighten the cushions, Caduceus gestured for Caleb to lead the way with a slightly confused smile. 

Caleb led him to the back garden which, with Nott’s help, had been turned into a nest of cushions and blankets, along with a lot of fairy lights and lanterns. 

Sitting on the pillows with his long legs crossed, Caduceus looked up expectantly at Caleb. 

Who fidgeted before huffing out a breath and sitting down with him, hands fisted into his trousers. 

‘So I realise that a reading evening wasn’t as fun for you as it might be for others and-‘

Gently interrupting, the taller man rebutted him: ‘I think that the time spent finding books for everyone’s interests was just wonderful, and there were plenty of lovely illustrations and information for me to use, just wonderful’.

Waving him off, Caleb continued ‘Ja but I wanted to do something special for you, you’re very special to me, and I think that you might like something like, well, this a little more’ and he booted up something on his laptop, and a projector that Caduceus had spied when sitting down suddenly whirred to life. 

A crackling black and white film started playing on a sheet that had been hung up between two trees opposite where they were sitting, that Nott had scaled earlier in the day whilst Caleb distracted Cad from going outside all day by asking a thousand questions about the plants in his room and how he keeps each individual one alive.

It was one of Caduceus’ favourite films, that he mentioned wistfully once that he used to watch with his family all the time, from the 1930s. 

Caduceus’ overly perceptive eyes then turned to Caleb, who had started fidgeting again, not knowing how to explain this away as just a friendly gesture, not with the candles strewn absolutely everywhere. 

‘This is… wow. This is a lot Caleb.’ Caleb winced, prompting him to continue, ‘I like it a lot Mr. Caleb, and-‘ he broke off, taking in the set up again, before reaching out and cupping Caleb’s face between his much larger hands and tilting it up so that pale pink eyes met amber.

‘- and I like you a lot too’. He finished, giving the smaller man a chaste, lingering kiss.

Caleb tilted his head up, and both quickly found themselves both smiling too much to call what they were doing a kiss. 

They broke apart and Caduceus dropped his hands from his face in favour for holding his hand instead and settling back on the cushions, leaving a careful amount of space for Caleb to enter into.

Taking the hint (for once in his life), he leant back on his (boy?)friend and held his hand, staring up at the projector, the tinny sound of the old film murmuring through the little speaker that he had set up. 

The lockdown had taken so much away from them so far, but Caleb thought as the warmth from being cuddled up to Cad seeped into his bones and he took in the tranquility of the night and the sounds of consistent quiet breathing beneath him, it would be nice to get a little alone time whilst this fragile new relationship started to find its feet.

**Author's Note:**

> This had been a wip for far too long, I started writing it 3 weeks into lockdown and only plotted out this much in terms of fluffy activities before lockdown started turning to crap - I have vague plans for a sequel which would contain a virtual Pride and the M9 joining the protests among other things, so let me know! 
> 
> Also I will never stop wanting to write soft and domestic Clayleb because it makes my soul feel soothed.


End file.
